Thursday, October 1, 2009

Cody: my post helper


The week went by very quickly – too quickly to have time for a new post with many pictures. But I have a helper usually near me, our cat Cody, and even though he is not much help, he will help me with my post this time – he will be the post.

Cody was left in our County Animal Shelter a few years ago. He looked up at us with his limpid green eyes and it was very easy to decide to take him home. He usually follows me around, unless he needs a rest. (Click on any picture to enlarge it.)


Come on Cody, let’s get to work, there are no birds out there –


Let’s go –


Cody is so quiet – he moves like a shadow. You can call him and unless he feels like it, you won’t hear him or see him. You may find that he has decided to check unusual places –



But then if you open a window, anywhere, he will quickly come as he loves to smell the air. He will sit very contentedly on the window sill for a long time, half asleep –


But if I come to the computer room he usually thinks I need to have him close by as a helper


….real close to the computer to give some extra advice.


I found this verse and wonder if Cody would like it:

…and close to me the cat sits purring,
Warming his paws at the cheery gleam...
- Heinrich Heine (German Romantic poet 1797-1856)

But the second part does not apply to Cody because he was warming his paws on the keyboard. So, Cody, what about this poem in French?




Le Chat
Viens, mon beau chat, sur mon coeur amoureux;
Retiens les griffes de ta patte,
Et laisse-moi plonger dans tes beaux yeux,
Mêlés de métal et d'agate. – Charles Baudelaire

Which translates as:

Come, my fine cat, against my loving heart;
Sheathe your sharp claws, and settle.
And let my eyes into your pupils dart
Where agate sparks with metal. - Charles Baudelaire



I guess he is not too impressed by French literature. I know because if I ask him a question he will answer – not really a meow but a soft guttural sound. He did not make a sound. So that will be the end of our post for today. Let's turn off the computer and go.



Woman with Cat by Lilla Cabot Perry (1848-1933) American Impressionist painter.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Live purely.
Be quiet.
Do your work with mastery.
Like the moon, come out from behind the clouds!
Shine.
- the Buddha


ADDENDUM: One of my blogging friends “Reader Wil” had a link to her friend Cherie who writes a blog in the Philippines called “This Side of Town.” In this blog she gives addresses and links to humanitarian agencies helping with the latest disasters in Southeast Asia. Please visit her blog here. Anything you can do to help the suffering in these countries is appreciated.

This picture was taken this morning. Cody says thank you for your nice comments about him – he appreciates it.

31 comments:

""°o.O Nancy O.o°"" said...

*** Hello Vagabonde ! ***

Que ton chat Cody est beau !!!!!
Ses yeux sont MAGNIFIQUES !
Tes photos sont originales et j'aime voir Cody dormir à côté du clavier ! :-)

*** Je t'embrasse bien fort ! BON VENDREDI à toi Vagabonde ! ***

claude said...

Cody est vraiment un beau chat, un bon compagnon de blogging.
J'aime bien la peinture de la Dame au chat.
Ici, nous en avons eu deux dont une merveilleuse petite chatte, à la robe très belle rousse, noire, et beige et des yeaux si beaux à faire damner tous les chats du voisinage. Mimi et Choupette se sont fait écraser sur la route. Alors, je ne veux plus de chat et c'est bien pourquoi aussi, j'ai plein d'oiseaux dans mon jardin...
Je posterai un jour sur la chatte Minette qui est arrivé un jour dans l'atelier de mon Chéri.

Kenza said...

Bonjour Vagabonde,
J'adooore ton chat, il est la majesté personnifiée dans toutes ses postures! Il semble participer à toutes tes activités avec beaucoup de calme et de "non-cha-lence"...
J'espère que tu reprends le dessus et que tu retrouves un peu de sérénité dans ta maison!
Gros bisous de France

Jinksy said...

Not particularly fond of cats, but love Baudelaire! On the other hand, your moggy is qite something, I have to admit.

Vicki Lane said...

A beautiful boy, your Cody. Amazing eyes.

I love the poem, especially the description of the eyes, and the painting is Wonderful!

wenn said...

Cody is so lovable..

Marguerite said...

How blessed you are to have such a sweet companion. He is adorable and such a character! Love the poem and the painting, too. Hope that everything is much better now and that you have a great weekend, cher!

DJan said...

Your post helper is so lovely. I also especially love the eyes. No wonder you couldn't leave this one behind at the animal shelter.

Your commenters are replying to you in French, which I think, is the race you come from, isn't it? :-)

RennyBA's Terella said...

Thanks for sharing your helper and great poems too!

rauf said...

Cody is demanding a treat for posing for the camera. Looks like he already had a sumptuous meal. i think he wants you to buy a professional camera. .
Why are you taking a top angle shot ? i look handsome and dashing in a low angle shot, bring the camera down.
Are you listening to me ? How can i show these pictures to the other cats ? wait, let me groom myself first. get my whiskers right okkay ?


My keyboard has many additional keys and i don't know what they are for. My chap walks on the keyboard and shuts down my computer and i get angry with him. i found that there is a power key on top. He has an attitude, and he is my teacher i call him Professor Pandurangan pillai. Has a doctorate in Physics, perfect calculations, perfect leaps and jumps, perfect landings. i have put him on youtube. i'll write about him in my next post.

Thanks for the explaination Vagabonde. Hope the rains have stopped and all things back to normal.

cherie said...

oh, madame, what a beautiful site! i am instantly attracted to the pictures, and some of my worries are at once lifted. i will be coming over some more, and link you to my blogsite. ~~~could you please link a post about the three countries' plight via my blog over here? thank you so much!

Elaine said...

What a beautiful helper you have! Cody made a wonderful subject for a post. Lovely pics.

Baino said...

He's a lovely ginger boy. I miss my cat. I had one years ago because we travelled a lot and cats are fairly independent and easily left with food and water . . but then she died after 17 years and we moved to a place full of beautiful birds and I bought a dog instead, worried that a new cat might eat the birds.

My daughter is now very allergic to cats. I may have to get one when she becomes a nuisance and I want her to leave home . . but not right now. I kinda like having her around.

Fennie said...

Well I'm not surprised that you wanted to take Cody home. Why wouldn't you. I do love ginger cats with green eyes and silky fur! Love your pictures too and the painting so original. A back view - so elegant - the neck, the narrow waist. But the painting would have lacked focus without a face - and hence the cat. But why does the cat look so scared (or is it surprised)? What has she seen that we haven't?

Darlene said...

Cody is a beautiful cat. Please never turn the dryer on without checking to see if he has gone in there for a snooze, though.

Reader Wil said...

Ce post me fait heureuse, parce que j'aime les chats. Nous avons eu des chats autrefois. Maintenant ce n'est plus possible, car je vais en voyage souvent. Ma fille cadette habite ã l'Australie. Je vous remercie de votre visite!

Vagabonde said...

What a beautiful moggy!

This was a comment by Alaine of the blog "Eclectique" at http://coccinella-ladybug.blogspot.com/ that I did not download right. My mistake.

Bonnie Zieman, M.Ed. said...

Vagabonde: Cody has beautiful green eyes and seems to be in love with someone at the computer!

After looking at Cody's pics, I misread the first line in the poem by the Buddha as "Live purrly"! :)

rauf said...

No No No VAGABONDE, i was not trying to teach or advise you. i cooked up the dialogue seeing Cody's funny expressions. i always do that, i have cooked up a story which will appear in my next post where i drag my cat to the court and accuse him of various crimes. i kept postponing due to my laziness now he is no longer a kitten but still playful.

D40 is a great camera, very much in demand here in India, one camera and ten buyers, so the prices have gone up.

Now let me take the liberty of advising you.

With D40, ISO 1600 setting, please take Cody's pictures in low light, say soft window light. Cody is a handsome cat but his pictures would be wonderful when his pupils are dilated. i use the same trick for my portraits. Applies humans as well. D40 is very good even at ISO 3200. Please Keep the dial on A (Aperture priority) Set the aperture at 3.5, camera will select the maximum shutter speed. Your house has good soft daylight seeping in. Its a joy to take indoor pictures in your house. Please avoid using camera flash on Cody, pictures will be harsh and it drains the battery. External bounce flash works well if you have a white ceiling. Cody sleeping on the table is very soft and beautiful.

Friko said...

My goodness, Vagabonde, that is a short post? Heine and Baudelaire (for both many thanks), gorgeous cat pictures and a painting as well as your amusing comments.
That is a long enough post for anyone and a splendid one at that. I love your cat.

have a good week.

Paty said...

Very nice pictures, Cody is really cute!
Thank you for your message in my blog. We had a wonderful trip through France, it was like a dream came true. I´m writing a little about my experience in France in my other blog, you can visit if you want, be welcome! http://moradadevenus.blogspot.com/ It´s in portuguese but there´s a translator on the site, it´s not perfect but i think it works.
About Musée de l´armée, it´s nice, worths a visit. I went because my husband is an aficcionado about war subjects, not my preference though. The museum has a very nice colection of medieval armour and guns (this picture I put here is from a chinese bottle for gunpowder). And there´s also a lot of stuff about the world wars.
Au revoir!

Miss_Yves said...

Adorable!
Baudelaire EST LE poète des chats ,les chats sont les amis des livres et de la maison.
Merci de votre visite.
Pour les photos d'araignées, je n'ai utilisé qu'un appareil automatique, très simple.
Mon seul "truc"est de les avoir prises un matin par temps légèrement brumeux mais avec un soleil clair:ainsi les toiles se détachaient nettement sur le fond.

Bhavesh Chhatbar said...

Your helper is too good at helping, Vagabonde!

Photos from Kas Plateau

Merisi said...

Cody is a mighty fine story writer! :-)

One of our daughters had a pet iguana (sadly, she had to give him up when we moved here). He liked to sleep on top of the PC monitor. One fine day he got carried away and let himself go, and the monitor was history. ;-)

TorAa said...

Cody is really a very nice Cat.
And so helpful and curious. Puur - puur.

We have 6 cats for the moment - 3 kittens and 3 adults.
We got new supply of Litter this evening, and thanks for that. We had nothing left.

Unseen India Tours said...

This is so a beautiful post !! Cat is so lovely and Cute !!Unseen Rajasthan

Max-e said...

Hi Vagabonde, thanks for stopping by and for yor comments.
My feline helper is Fergusson. He is tabby and white and like so many cats has to make his pressence felt - ie only when he wants to.
I have enjoyed browsing through your older posts and will be back.

Vagabonde said...

Nancy, Claude,Kenza et Reader Wil– Merci de votre visite et de vos bonnes paroles pour mon chat Cody.

Jinsky, Vicki Lane, Wenn, Marguerite, DJan, RennyBA’s, Rauf, Cherie, Elaine, Baino,Fennie, Darlene, Bonnie, Friko, Pati, Bhavesh, Merisi, TorAa, and Unseen Rajhastan - I am so pleased that you like my cat Cody. Thank you for taking the time to write a comment, I appreciate all your comments very much.

Max-e – Welcome to my blog. Thank you for visiting and reading my posts. I hope you will come back.

sablonneuse said...

My helper, Parsley and I agree that Cody is a very handsome cat.
Meows from all seven felines in his household.

Anonymous said...

thanks for stopping by. maybe you'll get to southern Africa sooner that you think.

I love this post and it makes me miss my cat MurphyBlu who lives now lives with my sister and her family - ruling the household including their dogs! Sadly I now live in complex that doesn't allow pets.

Ann said...

Cody is a beauty!!!! you can tell how well loved he is!!
LOVE THE WINDOW PICTURE..i can see how my piece reminded you!
my other favorite is Cody in the dryer!! this shows just how safe he feels!!
There is just something about cats that I love..their independence first and foremost!then,the neck nuzzling and purring! mine jump up on my lap like it's an inborn right!i am their personal chair,couch and/or bed!!
so happy to meet your wonderful Cody!!
hugs,Ann

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